What 22LR for best accuracy?

[berettaprofessor]

In the days before the Great 22lr Crash of December 2012, I was using mostly Wolf Match and Remington Subsonic for when I wanted to do more than just plink around. Those seemed to have the best accuracy and consistency in the guns (CZ452, modified 10/22) that I target shoot with.

These days, it seems the old names are gone since I haven't seen either of the above on shelves for over 5 years, and I'm running dry on accurate ammo. There seems to be plenty of other 22LR, however, just mostly names I haven't tried. CCI Mini-Mags and others seem to be okay, but not quite as accurate as others.

So, what do you shoot for current go-to, reasonably affordable, accurate 22lr? And please don't say Eley...maybe if I was really shooting competition and doing it out of a $2000+ gun, but I don't feel like paying 50 cents each for shooting in the backyard.

Experiences with RWS, Aguila, and others? And which ones; subsonic?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

CCI Standard Velocity is hard to beat for budget ammo. Federal Automatch also isn't bad....Neither is likely to give best accuracy, but generally are fairly good ammo in sporter weight guns or plinkers.

 

[Slamfire]

I am a competitive Smallbore Prone shooter. It takes good ammunition and good barrels to get good groups with a 22 lr. My Ruger 10/22, it shot everything within 1.25" group at 50 yards with a factory barrel. After I installed a Volquartsen barrel, the cheap ammunition still shot 1.25", but Eley Tennex shot dime sized groups.

I have had my rifles tested at Lapua for accuracy with their match ammunition. Assuming a high grade rifle, ammunition makes the greatest difference in accuracy. Ammunition varies in accuracy by lot. Some lots of the same grades of ammunition will shoot better in the same rifle, others will shoot worse. What target shooters do is lot test their ammunition and buy cases of the good stuff. I am on the last of this lot of ammunition and I am starting to feel separation anxiety.



I recently shot this ten shot group, prone with a sling at 100 yards, so maybe I have found a substitute.




What I have found, and what others have found, even the lesser priced match ammunition is way better than the Walmart cheapo brands for accuracy. The cheap stuff will fling bullets out in unpredictable ways. You won't see that in a cheap Ruger 10/22 barrel but you will see it in a quality barrel. Cheap match ammunition will shoot some fantastic groups, but, given enough rounds, something will go wrong. The lesser priced match ammunition is not as consistent as the good stuff. I have lots of eight ring drop outs with Wolf Target, RWS Target at 100 yards. Others also experience these low velocity rounds in the cheaper match ammunition. I have also shot a lot of cleans with both, but, I don't use the cheap match ammunition at Regionals or the Nationals.

 

[Captcurt]

You never know what is best in your gun until you try a dozen different brands. I have had some pretty accurate rifles and my number one go to ammo was Federal Gold Medal Match. If I dug out all of my ammo there would be CCI in both HV and Green Tag, Federal in several different configurations, Winchester Power Point, Lapua, Eley, a couple of different Remingtons, Wolf Match, and I think that I still have some PMC. When I get another 22 I will try most of them through it.. Just a heads up, I have never had a gun that liked Lapua.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have more than one gun that shoots very well with Lapua Center X..... This rifle performs well with any of the three ammo shown, however they are pricier than what I thought the OP had in mind.

 

[farmerboy78]

I have found that rws r50 and federal ultra match seem to be tops in several of my rifles... eley edge is the cheapest eley ammo that has shot well for me... if your rifle liked the wolf, odds are it will like most lapua ammo... but for sub $10 for a box of 50, cci standard is the best I've tested. But, it needs to be sorted... the federal ultra match is probably the best bang for the buck! I have several rifles... custom vostok cm2, bsa international mkII, Barnett ten-x, Schultz and Larsen m77, custom 10/22... my vostok and mkII love rws, um22, higher priced eley... my Barnett ten-x loves lapua... my 10/22 loves eley... the m77 seems to like the cci standard, it's very finicky. All of them are more than capable of sub 1/2" groups at 50yds...

 

[ColtPythonElite]

UltraMatch only the best bang for the buck right now. Normally it is 15+ bucks a box. Right now it can be had from Buds for $8 or $8.49 from Sportsman Guide....the reason is because Federal misprinted the boxes. UltraMatchs product number is UM22. They put 922A the individual box. (922A is the product code for the cheaper Match). When the mismarked stuff is gone, I am sure the price will go back up.

 

[bullzeye8]

Online you can still find Wolf ammo which is very good. As to other recommendations for cheaper serious stuff CCI standard is good. For better but not Eley Tenex price range there are many good options- RWS target rifle, Wolf match target or match extra, Eley target, Eley Club, SK standard plus, federal gold medal. All of those have grouped very well out of my new to me Anschutz 1416 heavy barrel.

 

[MEHavey]

CCI Standard Velocity.
I went through every brand mentioned above... and still it was no contest.

Standard Lipseys 11165 variation of the standard 10/22, which is basically a "clean" version devoid of all the tacticool bells & whistles.No special barrel, no inletting (I did put in a Volquartsen trigger)

 

[CoalTrain49]

My shooting buddy is testing 22 ammo. Nothing scientific, just shooting all kinds of cheap ammo. He has a Ruger 10/22 with a decent scope.

He had a box of Federal Champion and was disappointed. I told him to try CCI std velocity. He said it was much better. Then he tried Aguila SV and said it was the best of the three. I have a CZ 455. We all know how highly rated CZ's are I guess. Mine is no exception. All I have ever shot in it is Aquila SV. I like it enough that I bought 5 bricks.

My test is a 3" bullseye at 100 yds. I sight in at 50 yds. I can do about 90% on that 100 yd. target on a calm day with Aquila SV. I'm not sure if that's good or bad but the ammo is consistent.

 

[bassjam]

I’ll throw in another vote for CCI Standard Velocity. Most of my .22’s shoot that stuff very well. Honorable mention goes to CCI Mini Mags, but only for my guns made in the past few decades. My older Remington’s from the 50’s don’t like the high velocity stuff at all.

 

[Captcurt]

CCI Standard Velocity.
I went through every brand mentioned above... and still it was no contest.

View attachment 759975

Standard Lipseys 11165 variation of the standard 10/22, which is basically a "clean" version devoid of all the tacticool bells & whistles.No special barrel, no inletting (I did put in a Volquartsen trigger)

That is a nice looking rifle. Drool.

 

[fpgt72]

I did not see anyone reply to the sub sonic question at the end.....

I have played with different ammoes and in my fun with every rifle or pistol the sub sonic seems to tighten things up just a bit. Some of the automatics will not cycle them...ok most will not, but just shooting groups.

It is really fun to do this stuff....and if you have the ability to shoot at home it makes it real easy...you can shoot 5-10 whatever then just walk down and change targets...see, whatever...you don't have to wait for...whatever.

Another fun thing about sub sonic is they are quiet...out of rifles I don't wear ears (yea yea) you can hear the birds sing, I even stopped once as I saw a deer standing off to the side....I just sat there and watched her....so cool.

 

[FL-NC]

Different guns like different ammo. Experiment.

 

[redneck2]

My CZ 453 Varminter by far prefers Wolf Match Extra. I found some during the shortage and got 1,000 rounds.

I bought some Federal Match that was more expensive and less accurate. I had another brand that was REALLY expensive compared to the Wolf and accuracy was worse than standard Winchester white box. Forget the brand now. Laupa I think.

For just regular shooting, Federal Automatch is pretty good

 

[berettaprofessor]

I'll try the CCI Standard again for sure. I've never been impressed with Federal Automatch in my guns but I run it for plinking ammo because it was the one thing I could consistently get the past few years. I just hate going through having to run each rifle through another round of different ammo and I don't understand why, for instance, Remington, seems to have stopped making subsonic 22LR but still makes Golden Bullets...yuck! Wolf, I understand given the import issues, but I wish it was still around!

 

[Odd Job]

All round reasonable priced round is RWS Target Rifle.

 

[Don McDowell]

Norma Match and Tac both shoot well to 200 meters. Sk rifle match and Aquila Rifle Match are good , IF your rifle likes it. Some rifles aren't particularly fussy, others will show a definite choice in their favored ammo

 

[boom boom]

Slamfire, or anyone else that knows,
If you don't mind answering, do you use some devices like bullet accurizers or rim thickness indicators that check .22 ammo specs or do you just fire different match ammo to determine what works best? I have seen it argued that the major problem with cheaper ammo is the variance in the manufacturing tolerances such as rim thickness, bullet seating, and the like. As I am ashamed to admit that I have many bolt actions but only semi-auto .22's, I am curious about the accurizing of .22 rifles.

 

[Don McDowell]

Some folks I've seen using the rim thickness gauge on 25$ a box Lapua ammo and sorting out all manner of different cartridges.. Basically it will fall to the rifles choice, and the ability of the tanker of the trigger.

 

[boom boom]

Some folks I've seen using the rim thickness gauge on 25$ a box Lapua ammo and sorting out all manner of different cartridges.. Basically it will fall to the rifles choice, and the ability of the tanker of the trigger.

Thanks.

 

[Sunray]

There's no such thing as best anything. When it comes to .22's you must try a box of as many brands as you can to find the ammo that shoots best(and cycles a semi-auto) in your rifle/pistol. The price of said ammo means nothing at all.
"...bullet accurizers or rim thickness indicators..." No such thing as the former. The latter is just a way of separating you from your money.
"...I don't wear ears..." Hunting only. Indoors or on any range every shot is permanently damaging your hearing.

 

[.455_Hunter]

My son is shooting NRA Small Bore and the $4.99 Federal Match has been working quite well.

 

[cougar1717]

Asking about the best 22LR ammo is a deep well. The only sure fact concerning accurate 22LR ammo and a specific rifle is that the ammo is consistently inconsistent. It also depends on the shooter's expectation of accuracy, how accurate the barrel can be, and the skill level of the shooter. I like how RWS's brochure grades their ammo and gives it an expectation of 10 shot groups at 1", 3/4", or 1/4" (converted to standard, of course). If asked, I think everyone would prefer to shoot 1/4", 5 shot groups at 50yds, but that's not always possible, even if you purchase the most expensive ammo. While nobody really wants to admit it, there is expensive ammo that shoots no better than inexpensive ammo in any specific rifle. The more expensive the ammo, the more statistically consistent it should be in terms of components and velocity. Consistent velocity, narrow ranges between lowest and highest velocity means a lower standard deviation and means fewer flyers, which should mean smaller groups. But it doesn't always work that way.

While I don't know what the OP's expectation is, if you've already used Wolf ME and liked it, 3/4"+ groups might be a disappointment to you. It is pretty well known that Lapua manufactures and rebrands SK and Wolf 22LR. Many people like SK standard+ target ammo. Ruag makes RWS, Norma, and Geco 22LR. And Eley of course. I would start at the bottom of their lines and work your way up until you either reach the accuracy limit or the end of your budget. As much as I dislike admitting it, the US-made 22LR doesn't hang with the European made 22LR. IMHO, I don't know why so many people like CCI SV (but it's never grouped that well for me). I wouldn't bother with minimags unless your expectation is 1.5" @50yds.

The other consideration is if you're trying to use the same ammo in the CZ452 and the 10/22. The most consistent ammo should be a RN or FP 40gr lead bullet at 1080fps. These may not run your 10/22, depending on how modified it is. You may need to run HV ammo in the 10/22. But then again, the expectation should be that the CZ452 should outshoot the 10/22.

 

[someguy2800]

CCI standard velocity is the most accurate ammo I have every tried out of 20 or 30 types, but I have not shot very many of the $10+ per 50 round match type ammo.